Defense and goaltending unlikely reasons why Oilers have moved on to Western Conference final

Los Lobos played the Edmonton Oilers win song 'La Bamba' in Edmonton on Wednesday after the team clinched its series against the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

LAS VEGAS — The Oilers have been the team that didn’t seem bothered by giving up four goals because they were more than capable of scoring at least five.

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And, with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl anchoring the team, Edmonton can still win shootouts.

But winning a Stanley Cup has been elusive because an uncertain defense and shaky goaltending has largely been the Oilers’ undoing. That doesn’t appear to be the case anymore as they prepare to face Dallas or Winnipeg in the Western Conference final.

The Oilers wrapped up their second-round NHL playoff series by shutting out the Golden Knights over the final six periods of regulation and 7:14 of overtime to win in five games. Vegas, which finished fifth in the regular season with 3.34 goals per game, had trouble generating any kind of offense in those last two games.

The Golden Knights had just a combined 15 high-danger chances in those games, according to Natural Stat Trick, and 37 scoring chances overall.

“I think it was our commitment to not giving up odd-man rushes,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “Vegas is a very good team when it comes to odd-man rushes and capitalizing off of defensive turnovers. We were very conscious of keeping the five guys between our net and the puck and getting above their good-skating defensemen.

“So I think we had a much more conscious effort to get pucks deep and kind of play a simple game and build off that.”

That defense made life considerably easier for beleaguered goalie Stuart Skinner, who was benched just two games into the playoffs after allowing 11 goals in the first two games of the opening series against Los Angeles.

Journeyman Calvin Pickard entered the crease and helped the Oilers roll off six consecutive victories to eliminate the Kings and take early control against the Golden Knights. But Pickard was injured in Game 2 of the Vegas series, and Skinner returned to the net.

His struggles continued in Game 3, allowing four goals to go with an .833 save percentage, and the Golden Knights won their only game — on a Reilly Smith goal with .4 seconds left.

Just throwing the puck on net against a struggling goaltender seemed like a recipe for Vegas to pull out the series victory. Except the Golden Knights didn’t get many such chances, their entries into the offensive zone disrupted and their space to operate once there negated.

“I think the last two nights we defended pretty well in front of (Skinner),” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Was it perfect? No. Were there some chances? Definitely. He came up big the last two nights.”

Or, as McDavid put it about Skinner, “Hopefully, it shuts a lot of people up talking about him.”

Skinner or Pickard, if he’s back, will be tested in the next series and will go against a team with an elite goalie, be it Jake Oettinger of the Stars or Vezina Trophy favorite Connor Hellebuyck of the Jets.

Maybe these back-to-back performances will serve Skinner well.

“Being able to come back in no matter what the scenario was and being able to have the resiliency in me is something I can be proud of,” Skinner said. “So much of it has to do with how the guys are playing in front of me. The way they’ve played ever since I’ve come back in is impressive.”

Not just for Skinner, but for the entire Oilers team, beating Vegas had the added benefit of revenge in what is becoming one of the Western Conference’s top rivalries.

The Golden Knights kept the Oilers from getting out of the second round two years ago, and it was Vegas that wound up lifting the Stanley Cup. The Oilers made it to the final last year only to lose in seven games to Florida, but they didn’t have to get past the Golden Knights.

This time, Edmonton did and in commanding fashion.

“There’s probably a lot of people that thought it was going to go longer than five (games) and probably not a lot of people that thought we would win,” McDavid said. “It’s nice to keep on rolling, to keep on proving people wrong. We’ve got a lot of belief in this room. It’s fun to be part of.”

Mark Anderson, The Associated Press